The Master
by echgrl
Summary: After Phantom goes on a killing spree in Amity Park, the world deems him as public enemy #1. But no one knows what really happened. In a story filled with family, friendship, and tears, Danny Phantom must find it in himself to prove to the world and his family that he didn't commit the terrible crime if he ever wants to learn to love himself again.
1. Chapter 1

**Jazz never found out about Danny. PP happened but no one found out. I think that's all you really need to know haha. Happy reading!**

Jazz Fenton never could've dreamed she would be where she is today. Psychiatrist in practice by day, ghost hunter by night. Something about being both of those things doesn't quite seem to fit… It's not every day that you meet someone who is such a skeptic believing in the supernatural.

But alas, Jazz grew up with this life. Her parents insisted that she follow in their footsteps, and, when she came face-to-face with the truth, there was no looking back.

On the contrary, her brother Danny was still pretty skeptical about the existence of specters. He had denied the existence of ghosts as soon as their parents' ghost portal started working and that ghost boy started wreaking havoc in Amity Park. He eventually agreed that ghosts were real but he still seemed to have doubts. For that, Jazz was always perplexed by him. Before the portal was created, he seemed really interested in the idea that ghosts existed. In fact, he was much more interested in becoming a ghost hunter than Jazz ever had been. Yet, his fantastical idea of ghost hunting wore off almost instantly.

What could have caused this? It isn't normal for someone to have such a strong interest in something one day, and then the next, avoid the topic completely. For a while, Jazz thought Danny may be depressed. She constantly diagnosed him with different medical conditions for his strange behavior… Years had gone by of her nagging him and telling her parents he needed to be mentally examined, but them brushing it off as part of growing up. Jazz wasn't convinced with that aspect of it.

However, after their family, with Phantom and the rest of the Ghost Zone's help, stopped a large planet from plummeting through Earth and ending the world as we know it, Danny seemed to lighten up on the idea of ghosts. Yet, he remained guarded…

Not even a year had passed when a horrific event ensued where Phantom went on a killing spree, and was deemed evil and highly dangerous. Jazz and Danny's parents made it their life's goal (for a second time) to destroy Phantom. That's when Jazz began to become more into the idea of ghost hunting. She wouldn't let some evil teenage ghost kid get away with murder.

And that's when she thought Danny seemed to be depressed again. Everything about him was very off. And he wouldn't let Jazz in. Not even for a second. They began to drift apart, as Jazz got her Bachelor's in psychology, and he skipped college altogether, getting a job at Lowe's, earning minimum wage. Not long after, he moved out of the house to God knows where and seldom visited his family.

The ghost kid - well he was now growing up to be taller and more muscular-looking thus making him more frightening, and perplexing most since he was a ghost _growing up_ \- tried to redeem himself on a daily basis but everyone saw him as a villain after what he had done. Yes, he saved people, but who knew when he would start killing again. He tried to tell the town of Amity Park that it was all a big misunderstanding and that it wasn't him, but there was undeniable evidence that he did it so what could they think?

Jazz wanted to believe him, but she saw the security footage. It _was_ Phantom.

Years had passed without any sign of Phantom or Danny, and Jazz was beyond worried about the latter.

Thinking about her brother made Jazz confused and sad. She wished she could've helped him but his answer was always 'no'. She grabbed her phone and typed in his number.

It went straight to voicemail. "Hey! It's Danny! If you are listening -"

Jazz hung up and sighed heavily. She worried so much about Danny. What could he be up to right now?

Danny woke up from a long slumber. He had to have been out for almost 3 hours. 3 hours was long for him considering his odd work hours. And by work, I mean ghost-hunting. Now that he lived in the Ghost Zone, fighting ghosts was much more of a daily occurrence.

"Great One, your friends are here," a polar bear ghost with yellow eyes came into Danny's ice-encased room and smiled.

"Thanks Frostbite. They can come in."

Two seconds later, Sam and Tucker came rushing into his room and hugged him. They were dressed in head-to-toe winter clothes, freezing their asses off in the cold of the Far Frozen, while Danny just wore shorts and a T-shirt like he was on vacation in Hawaii. "Hey guys!"

"Danny, we've been looking everywhere for you. How come you aren't answering your phone?"

"No service in the Ghost Zone… And you guys really shouldn't be going around the Ghost Zone by yourselves."

"We know our way around," Sam put her hands on her hips.

"Why are you guys looking for me anyway?"

"We think you should come back to Amity," Tucker said.

"What? No way. Not after what happened."

"Danny -"

"NO!" His eyes glowed red for a split-second. He shrugged and his blue eyes looked very sad now. "I can't. Not after what I did."

"That wasn't _you_ ," Sam insisted.

"As Amity saw it, it was. And you know what? They aren't completely wrong either. I felt compelled to kill those people… Everyone's lost faith in me. They _fear_ me. And I don't blame them… I fear _myself_. How can I come back knowing that?"

"Seriously dude. It wasn't you. We know that and you know that," Tucker sighed. "Come on, at least come back to Amity to see your family. They miss you and they're worried. Besides, they don't know you and Danny Phantom are the same person."

"Yeah. That's _why_ I'm staying away. If I make one slip-up, they could find out. Before, the thought of them finding out was pretty scary considering all their threats against me, but now they have legitimate reasons. If they found out Phantom was their son, it would _break_ them," Danny explained. "And it would break me too…"

Sam frowned and nodded. "We get that. But you can't avoid them forever. Otherwise, they will get more suspicious about where you spend all your time."

He scoffed. "It's not like they are gonna go to the Ghost Zone to look for me."

"You'd be surprised…They are pretty desperate at this point. And you saying that them finding out you were Phantom would break them - well, I'd say they are pretty broken already with you running away from home," Tucker told him.

Danny sighed and rubbed the back of his neck anxiously. He got out of bed and grabbed his duffel bag on the opposite side of the room. "I'll give them a visit."

"No, Danny. _Stay with them_." Sam said.

"No. _No way_. The Far Frozen is the best place for me. Let me get changed."

So a question you've probably been asking: _What happened all those years ago?_

A _ghost_ happened of course. A new terrible enemy of Danny… His name was Gregory, but he was better known in the Ghost Zone as _The Master_ , a title he had gotten by being able to control other ghosts' actions and putting thoughts into their minds and words into their mouths.

Like he did to Danny…

A black and red-streaked specter with completely white glowing eyes, The Master was a terrifying spectacle and had evil intentions. He knew Danny had saved both the natural and the ghoulish world. For that, he was actually rather angry, contrary to most. He had plans to disconnect the Ghost Zone from the human world so that only the human world would be destroyed by the Phantom Planet. He'd been working on this for years. When Danny convinced all the ghosts rush to the human world to save everyone, including themselves, The Master was furious. He couldn't disconnect the worlds if all of his friends were in the human world. This was also one of the only opportunities he had to disconnect the worlds. He couldn't do it in fear of living the rest of eternity alone.

So he wanted revenge. And he took it out on Danny Phantom by controlling him to kill twenty five of Amity Park's citizens. He knew Danny's obsession as a ghost was saving people - _what an idiotic goody-two-shoes obsession…_ \- and so he made Danny Phantom go Hero to Zero. All the faith Amity Park had in him as a hero completely dissipated and now he was doomed to a future of self-hatred and regret.

And it worked. Danny hated himself, even after he and his friends had found out the truth behind this. Danny tried everything to prove he didn't do it, but no one believed him. It was undeniable that he killed those people. He had the same mannerisms - killing while making the usual quips as if it were a game or a fight against the Box Ghost, the exact appearance - snow-white hair, glowing green eyes, the silly facial expressions, et. Ghost-hunters alike reviewed the evidence tapes and agreed it was indeed Phantom who killed all those people. Statues that were put up to commemorate him were immediately taken down and he became Public Enemy #1 worldwide.

Danny's self-loathing grew as years passed. He didn't bother with college because he saw that his future wasn't going anywhere. All aspirations to be an astronaut went away. He was actually really depressed like Jazz expected, but the reasons for it, Jazz had no idea… He got a job at Lowe's which lasted for about 3 months, then he was MIA for the next 2 years, residing in the Far Frozen where ghosts respected him and believed that he would never have killed a single soul if he weren't compelled to do so. He visited his family very rarely because he feared they would somehow figure out the truth. Anyone finding out who he actually was would mean the _end_. Despite hating himself, some part of him cared about what other people thought of him, _especially_ his family.

And now, after a year of not visiting his family, he was going back. He wasn't sure for how long.

 **Not entirely sure where I'm going with this story. I just started writing about Jazz in the beginning because I was wanting to write a Danny Phantom fanfiction. I came up with an idea as I wrote it so I apologize if things are confusing. To clarify if the passage of time confused you:**

\- **I'd say this is set 4 years in the future**

\- **set in the summer**

\- **Jazz has a bachelor's degree in psychology and now has an internship in Amity Park for convenience's sake**

\- **Danny has been living in the Far Frozen for 2 years and visited his family once or twice in those 2 years**

 **If anything else confused you message me. Hopefully, it wasn't too confusing. I just kind of wrote whatever came into my head. Hope you like the idea… Anyway, have a good day!**


	2. Chapter 2

Danny sighed heavily. Visiting his family after so long would be incredibly awkward. Luckily, his friends were at both sides, as always. When they arrived back in his parent's lab, his heart beat started to quicken. Hopping out of the Specter Speeder, Danny felt dread creeping up in him, taking in the familiar surroundings of the lab.

He turned back to his friends who were still inside and said quietly, "You know what? This is a bad idea. I should probably -"

"You can't avoid them forever. Come on!" Sam said.

He shrugged and took his friends' hands, flying with them up to the front door of his house. The sun was just setting. He took in a deep breath and rang the doorbell.

"I'll get it!" Jazz's voice came from behind the door.

"Okay Danny, this is a personal matter so we are just gonna let you and your family talk it out. Alright bye," Tucker whispered quickly, as he and Sam rushed away.

"What - ?!" Danny gasped. The front door swung open, and there Jazz stood, in a lab coat with a clipboard, looking super sciency.

Her eyes widened and tears formed at the corner of her eyes. "Oh Danny!" She tossed the clipboard on the ground and threw her arms around him. He felt overcome with emotions and also began to cry, embracing her in his strong arms. "Oh!" She yelped from the tight squeeze. "You've been working out?"

Danny seemed embarrassed by this comment, and, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, "Yeah, I have."

Jazz couldn't help but stare at her younger brother. _Where has he been all this time? Why is he back now?_

"Um, come in. Make yourself at home. I'll go, uh, make some hot tea!" She ran out of the room and straight to her parents who were making dinner. "Come quick!"

They followed after her, thinking maybe some ghost was attacking, but what they saw was no ghost; it was their son! "DANNY!" Their parents screamed and sprinted to Danny, hugging him warmly. They backed away and couldn't believe their eyes. He had grown into such a handsome, strong young man. Puberty had treated him well. That being said, he had begun to grow more before he left his family, but now he seemed much more comfortable under his own skin.

"Where - where were you? We looked everywhere!" Maddie cried.

"Danny-boy…you had us worried sick. We haven't stopped looking not once," Jack said.

Danny frowned. "I'm sorry. I just… it was a hard time for me. I needed to be alone. That's all."

"You could've gone to us for help. Why did you need to search elsewhere?" Jazz demanded.

"It's complicated. Everything is so complicated…"

"We just don't know what you could've been running from… Did we say something that set you off?" Jack asked.

"It wasn't you guys. It was me."

"Where were you sweetie?" Maddie asked.

Danny shrugged and moved over to the couch to sit down. "Does it matter? I'm here now."

"It sure as hell matters!" Jazz shrieked. Then she sighed and plopped down next to him. "Sorry…it's just… I mean, where were you? _Really_."

"The Ghost Zone," Danny answered truthfully.

Jazz crossed her arms in front of her. "Danny, this is _not_ a time for jokes."

He chuckled. "Sorry, I don't want to talk about it right now, okay?"

"Well, we were just making dinner. How about you join us?" Maddie suggested.

He nodded.

Dinner passed by very slowly in Danny's eyes, but in Jazz's eyes it went by far too quickly. The curiosity boiled inside of her as he kept quiet about where he had been and what he had been doing since he had been gone. Not only that, but she felt like she - _they_ \- had the right to know… They were his family after all. She knew he wouldn't tell them, but she supposed she could get him to talk to her privately about it.

"So, you've been working with Mom and Dad in the lab?"

Jazz nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, it's been pretty awesome. You know, you should work with us sometime!"

"What kind of stuff do you do?"

"Well, we are still trying to figure out how to locate Phantom. He hasn't been seen for some time now, but -" Maddie started.

"Isn't that what you want?" Danny cut her off.

"Huh?"

"For him to not be here. I mean, it's what is best for the city."

"Yes…but he can't get away with murder! He crossed the line."

"Other ghosts have done that too," he pointed out.

"What I want to know is why…" Jazz speculated.

"Why don't you ask him?"

She rolled her eyes.

"What matters is that we are ready for him when he returns," Jack stated. "We will destroy him and everyone will be able to get on with their lives."

Danny sighed heavily and then got up from his place at the table. "I should probably be heading back soon…"

"Please," his mom grabbed his hand lovingly. "Stay the night."

Her loving gaze and sad eyes tugged at Danny's heartstrings to the point where he couldn't deny her.

"Hey, Danny," Jazz stood right outside his door and knocked just like old times.

"Come in."

She walked into Danny's room. It was nice and clean, and, for once, she wished it were a complete mess so she could at least feel some sense of normalcy. But _nothing_ was normal about this situation. He sat on his bed and put a book down.

"What's that for?"

"Oh! Um, just a book I started reading." The book was recommended by Frostbite and completely written in Esperanto. He wasn't about to try to explain how he knew how to read and speak Esperanto to Jazz.

 _Danny reads now?_

"Is it something I would know?" She came closer.

"No, it's just some stupid fantasy novel…" He pushed it away.

She twiddled with her thumbs, looking about as nervous as Danny felt. "Anyway, I wanted to ask you if you are okay. _Really_ okay."

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Why did you leave?"

"Please, not _this_ again."

" _I'm your sister._ You need to open up to someone."

"No, I don't. And I appreciate your concern but I don't need your help."

"If you won't tell me why, then at least tell me where."

"It's not important…"

"It is _to me_. God, what is wrong? I'm trying to understand you. Everything in my head points to depression, but it's something else, isn't it? Something you are repressing or hiding from us?"

"Can you just leave me alone? I really don't need this right now," Danny stood up exasperatedly and paced around the room.

"I'm only pressing you for answers because I care."

"If you really cared, you'd do what I ask and leave me alone!"

"I HAVE LEFT YOU ALONE!" Jazz yelled. Then tears came to her eyes and she looked away from him.

Danny's heart hurt and he found it hard to breathe. He closed his eyes and water started streaming down his face. He opened them and saw Jazz gasping for breaths as she cried.

"I'm sorry," Jazz muttered between tears. "I just…God, Danny, I've missed you…and we have all been _beyond_ worried. We thought… we thought…that you may have…we thought the _worst_ … You can't just come back and expect us to pretend like this past year…like it never happened! Please answer me… _please_. Why did you leave?"

Danny closed his eyes. "I thought it was best for everyone."

Jazz looked at him incredulously. "How could you think that?"

"I'm - I'm a burden… Not only that, everyone in this town _hates me_."

She shook her head. "None of that is true."

"Yes, it is… And if you knew everything, you'd understand why."

"What are you talking about?"

Danny gasped and cold air escaped his mouth. He rolled his red-rimmed eyes and scanned the room for ghosts. "I've gotta go on a walk."

"Okay, I'll come with - "

" _Alone_ ," Danny's eyes were dangerously close to turning green right before Jazz and she almost thought she saw a glow but figured it was a trick of the eye.

On his way out his bedroom door, Danny was stopped by a firm grip on his bicep. "You better be coming back."

"I am."

Jazz sighed, wiped tears off of her face, and walked over to Danny's bed. She picked up the book he had been reading and realized it was in a language she had never read before. She raised a brow. _Since when can Danny read in another language?_

She heard a crash in the hallway and suddenly alarm bells began to ring throughout the entire house. She knelt down and pulled a ghost gun that had been strapped beneath Danny's bed - every bed in the house in fact - in cases such as these.


	3. Chapter 3

Danny was used to being interrupted by ghosts on a daily basis, and generally, it really annoyed him. However, this one was more like one of those 'saved-by-the-bell' occurrences, because Jazz wasn't about to stop nailing him with questions. Though he had been saved by the bell in that moment, the fact that the fight was taking place in a ghost-hunting family's house and he was now in his ghoulish form, made things far less simple.

The ghost he was fighting was a run-of-the-mill square one octopus-looking specter. He had fought these types of ghosts as long as he had been Danny Phantom though it felt much longer. He pulled his thermos out and sucked it in. Thinking he was done, he hooked the thermos right back on his belt, but yelped as someone punched him from behind. He fell to the ground and realized from the sizzling on the back of his neck that he had been shot with an ecto-gun. Not only that, but this ecto-gun was far more effective than it had been a year ago. It actually _hurt_.

He turned around to see a furious Jazz, confidently carrying a gun and pointing it directly at him. "Okay Phantom. It's time to face your doom." The gun whirred to action and, just as she was about to blast Danny, he sunk through the floor, down to the lab, where he transformed back to his human form and emptied the ghost back into the Ghost Zone.

"Phantom was just here!" Jazz screamed to her parents.

"WHAT?!" Their parents yelled at the top of their lungs.

"Did you get him? What did he say?"

"No and he didn't say anything."

Danny took a deep breath in. _Back to the normal swing of things I guess_ , he thought to himself.

"Wait a minute… Where's Danny? He just left his room when the ghost attack happened…"

"Oh no! Did that evil ghost take him?" The mom shrieked.

"I - I don't know…"

 _Crap, I better go to the front door and pretend I was on a walk_ …

He flew up to the front door and knocked. The door flew open. Jazz had a wild expression on her face. "DANNY! How'd you get out of the house before Phantom attacked?!"

"Phantom was here?"

Jazz eyed him suspiciously. _How had he not seen Phantom?_ Then she noticed something odd. "Danny…Oh my God, you are bleeding." She touched his seared neck and blood came back on her hand. She stared at it. "Um…" Jazz's breath caught in her throat. She shook her head a little, and then looked back up at Danny. "Come on, let's go to the bathroom, and clean this up."

Danny hated himself for not trying to cover that up. He could've spent a few minutes hiding that wound. Jazz would recognize it as the wound she gave to Phantom… He shouldn't have come back. Jazz being a ghost-hunter now made it impossible to keep things from her…

She got out cleaning supplies and patted a cotton pad on the back of Danny's neck. He didn't wince. Not once. _What made him so tough?_ "Dan…um…"

"Please _never_ call me Dan."

"Okay...Sorry. _Danny_ , how did you get this wound? It's fresh, and it - " _is already healing?!_

"Fell over like the total klutz I am," he chuckled. "Some things never change, huh?"

Jazz laughed half-heartedly, knowing he must be lying because there was no way anyone could get a _burn_ like that from falling over…and on the back of the neck too... "I guess so." She cleaned the wound the rest of the way, ignoring the fact that it had almost healed half way - maybe she thought it had looked worse than it actually was… "Anyway…we were talking earlier, and I really think you need to open up to someone."

"I have…"

"To _family_."

Danny turned around after Jazz covered the burn. "This is exactly why I haven't been here. You are so insistent that I tell you everything, and, while I get that you are trying to help me, I don't need any help."

"You clearly do. Why else would you leave your own family with not even a simple goodbye?" Jazz crossed her arms. "Where the hell have you been this past year?"

"Please give it a rest."

Jazz shrugged. She would never get through his thick skull. She knew he was private and was a compulsive liar, but it never bothered her so much until now. And how couldn't it? He left his family without saying anything… Despite how happy and normal they seemed, it _broke_ them. But the worst part of it was: he didn't give any reasons for his disappearance. And his friends Sam and Tucker knew where he was but not his own family? How did _that_ make any sense? It hurt Jazz to see her brother so easily trust his friends over her, _his only sister_. She ignored it in high school, but now they were basically adults. Why couldn't he tell her everything?

"You're never gonna trust me enough to tell me the truth, are you?"

Danny just gave her a blank expression.

She shook her head and said, " _Typical_ ," then she went to her room and sat on her bed. She found herself asking the same question she had been asking herself since the lab accident. W _hy won't he let me in?_

She realized she still had the pad she had used to clean Danny's wound and scoffed at herself. Then she looked closer at the blood on the cotton and realized there was a greenish tint to it…almost like… "Ectoplasm…" Jazz's breath caught in her throat. What could _that_ mean?

"Danny-" Jazz started to say, walking into her younger brother's room with the cotton pad and realizing he wasn't there. The window, however, was wide open, letting a slight breeze in. Though it wasn't cold, Jazz shivered and felt sick to her stomach. She walked slowly to the window and looked down then tilted her head up towards the bright moon. She saw a flicker of something pass in front of the moon and was convinced it was that evil ghost boy. What she didn't know: Where was Danny?

Danny needed to fly to clear his mind and let go of his worries which he had a lot of at the moment. Being home made him exceptionally tense. And Jazz was smart. She would figure out what was going on with him sooner or later. It was surprising that she still hadn't made the connection. Danny wished he would've told her before he did the unspeakable. Maybe things would be different now…

He called up Sam and Tucker who were expecting to hear from him sooner than later. "Danny! What's been going on?" Tucker shouted on the other end.

"Well, Jazz is onto me."

"Oh no… What happened?" Sam asked.

"She blasted Danny _Phantom_ in the back of the neck, then I stupidly came back home before it healed and she saw it and cleaned it up for me."

"Crap…I bet she saw it starting to heal too," Tucker added. "What did you say happen?"

"I said I fell…But seriously, who falls and injures themselves like that?"

"If Jazz finds out, it isn't the end of the world -" Sam started.

"Uh, yes it is!"

"It's better than literally anyone else finding out. She knows you almost as well as _we_ know you."

"But, in her eyes, Phantom is a villain."

"The real question is: Would finding out that you are Phantom change her opinion about you or Phantom?" Tucker pointed out.

"Yeah, I don't want to stay to find out."

"If you explain yourself to her, I'm sure she will believe you," Sam said.

"It's not like I'm staying anyway. I don't need to tell her anything. I just wish she would stop pestering me," he explained, quietly landing on top of a building.

"How long are you going to stay?" Sam asked a few moments later.

"Not sure. A few days probably, _definitely_ no more than a week."

Sam frowned, but she didn't say anything back. Instead, Tucker answered, saying something like 'okay, whatever, we will come by tomorrow' and hanging up.

She exchanged sad glances with Tucker. Life had become pretty dull since he left and stopped being Danny Phantom… And, being the biggest supporters of, now, one of the most hated former heroes known to man had been tough on them. As mayor, Tucker had a hard time discussing the deaths of all those people while still siding with his friend because he knew the truth. There had been a lot of anger towards him on how he dealt with that issue. And people knew Sam and the ghost boy were close - at least it was a rumor and was, in fact, true - so they figured she was on his side as well. The town had kind of grown to hate them just like they had Danny Phantom for doing what he did. The thing that bothered them was that Danny _Fenton's_ reputation remained unscathed so at least he still had a part of himself to hang on to. They were known to be good acquaintances with Phantom, while Danny was never even seen in the same room as that ghost. So, though their reputations were more heavily affected by this attack, _Danny_ was the one that wanted to hide away from society, not them. Part of Sam and Tucker understood that being controlled to murder those people was what made Danny so freaked out and scared to face society, yet another part of them wished he would just get over it.

The next morning, Jazz immediately went to Danny's room to find his window closed and his bed made as if he hadn't even slept the night. This made Jazz nervous: _Did Danny leave overnight_? Seeing the foreign book on his table and a small duffel comforted her a bit, but not quite enough.

"JAZZY COME DOWNSTAIRS! DANNY IS MAKING ME - I MEAN _US_ \- PANCAKES!" Jack yelled.

Jazz would never get used to her dad's outbursts. They still made her jump. So Danny _is_ still here. Jazz smiled, thanking God that she hadn't made him run away again. She walked downstairs and smelled a mixture of chocolate chips, strawberries, blueberries, maple syrup, and pancake batter. Sure enough, to Jazz's surprise as she entered the kitchen, Danny was making pancakes. Flipping them as if he did it every day.

"Where did you learn to do this?" Their mom asked.

"Oh! Um, heh… a … _friend_ taught me," he answered. It was weird for him because he had somewhat made friends with some of his ghost enemies after he had saved the world. The Lunch Lady had taught him how to make some things, much to his dismay, and it had actually become a useful skill. That being said, it still felt weird to think of her as a friend…

Jazz shrugged. _How obscure can he get?_

"Good morning hun," Maddie hugged Jazz.

"Good morning," she hugged her back then went to go hug Danny, who put the spatula down and hugged her back. Jack came in and the whole family hugged.

 _This feels good. This feels_ right _. Back with the family again. Breakfast on a Saturday morning_ -

"Breaking news! The town's worst fears have come true as the ghost that goes by the name _Danny Phantom_ was spotted last night, flying over the streets of Amity Park. Little is known of why he is back and what he wants with our city but leading experts say they are going to find out and make sure he doesn't hurt anyone ever again," Lance Thunder announced on live television.

Danny internally moaned. _How could I have been so careless?_

"He really _is_ back! Do you know what this means?!" Maddie shrieked.

"It means we actually have a chance to get rid of him for good!" Jazz grinned.

"By ripping him molecule by molecule!" Jack added.

Danny silently turned back to the pancakes and flipped them again to make them darker on top. Jazz noticed his immediate discomfort and avoidance of the situation. Maybe he left Amity to get away from this ghost business…Maybe it upset him…

"Okay, so who's first?" Danny put three pancakes on a plate.

"Oooh!" Jack took the plate. "Thanks Danny-boy!"

"Maple syrup is in the microwave."

Jazz observed Danny's mannerisms closely to the point where he felt her numbing stare at his back. He was used to it by now, but it still bothered him enough to make him turn around with a look that read _cut-it-out-or-i-will-wail-at-you_ or, in Jazz's eyes, _cut-it-out-or-else_.

She got the hint and went to the table with their parents. Then a thought occurred to her: Danny arrived moments before Phantom. _Why did they_ both _come back at the same time?_ Another thought occurred to her: she wounded Phantom on the back of his neck and Danny had a similar - possibly _identical_ \- wound minutes after, that, started healing before Jazz's eyes. Not to mention the green-tinted blood from his wound... Jazz shifted uncomfortably in her seat at the table.

"Is something bothering you?" Her mom asked sweetly.

Jazz realized she was slouched over the table and fixed her posture then shook her head. "No, um, I was just thinking about one of the patients at the Amity Park Psychiatric Center that Dr. Madison was seeing." _That's right. Talk about your internship. That usually changes the subject because your parents aren't very interested in it,_ Jazz told herself.

"Oh! So what about them?" She was trying to seem interested.

"Um…doctor-patient confidentiality," she said quickly.

Danny came with the next batch of pancakes - these had strawberries in them - and put them in front of his mom. "Thanks sweetie."

He went back in the kitchen. The doorbell rang. "I'll get it," Jazz said.

Opening the door, she was surprised to see Sam and Tucker, almost as if it were old times. "Hey you guys."

"Hi Jazz. Danny said he came back into town and we wanted to drop by and just say hi to everyone," Sam said.

"Yeah, of course. Um…first, I have a question."

"Yeah?"

"You guys are close with Danny -"

They nodded.

"Where was he this past year?"

"No idea," Sam told her.

"Yeah, he told us as much as he told you," Tucker added.

 _I highly doubt that_ … "Well, the first thing he told me when I asked was the Ghost Zone. It's just like him to make a joke out of something serious." She thought she may have seen a questioning look when she mentioned the Ghost Zone but it lasted for less than a millisecond and instantly, his friends were laughing. "It isn't funny. This is serious. I'm afraid he could be getting involved with some pretty bad people."

"He isn't. Jazz, if it was bad, don't you think we'd tell you?" Sam pointed out.

Just then, Jazz had a flashback to high school around Spirit Week, when the ghost boy had first saved her:

( _"_ _I mean haven't you noticed how gloomy and negative he's been lately?" Jazz had said._

 _"_ _Uh, Jazz, we're Danny's friends. That means we keep his secrets from you," Tucker replied._ )

 _They are hiding something… And somehow, it has something to do with my brother_ and _Phantom._ "Sure…well, you guys come in and make yourselves at home. Danny is making breakfast."


	4. Chapter 4

Sam and Tucker walked into the dining room where the Fenton parents were feasting on Danny's food.

Danny walked in with another batch. "Oh! Hey guys!" He waved to his friends. "You wanted just blueberries right?" He asked Jazz.

"Yeah, thanks," she smiled, taking the plate from him. Despite liking this new side of Danny, Jazz couldn't help but feel weird about it too. _Who taught him to cook? Why did he learn to cook? Where has he been?_ She had imagined he had joined some kind of cult or gang…but now, she didn't know what to think. It wasn't like some gang leader would teach Danny how to make pancakes…

Sam and Tucker followed Danny back into the kitchen.

"You're making pancakes?" Tucker questioned.

"Something the Lunch Lady taught me… I just wanted to ease Jazz's mind."

"I think you probably made her _more_ confused," Sam said. "Anyway, we saw the news."

"I _know_ I'm an idiot. Don't make me feel any more stupid than I already feel," Danny groaned as he poured batter into the buttered pan and it began sizzling.

"We aren't trying to make you feel bad. We are just concerned… They have really improved the system in Amity since you've been gone…which means it will be easier for them to find you, even in human form."

His eyes widened, then he seemed to relax. "My parents know that their inventions that key in on ecto-signatures are geared towards me and figured it was because of my accident in the lab."

"I mean it _technically_ was -" Tucker started.

"Yeah, well that was just your parents so they were biased and couldn't even think that their son could be half-ghost, half-human. But, now that Vlad revealed himself as a halfa, ghost-hunters won't be so quick to disregard finding a human with their devices," Sam explained.

Danny rubbed the back of his neck anxiously. " _Dammit_ … I should go back."

Sam put her hand on his, not flinching at how ice-cold it was. "We are here for you."

"Yeah man, don't worry. We won't let anyone figure it out."

"I'm safer in the Ghost Zone…"

"Amity Park has become a hell hole Danny. Without you, ghosts have been relentlessly wreaking havoc. No one can hunt ghosts like you can. They may hate to admit it, but they _need_ you. We need you. I -"

"They won't be so quick to think of me as a hero again...They'll attack me. They'll find out who I really am. They'll-" Danny hyperventilated, eyes becoming green.

"Danny! Calm down!" Sam and Tucker yelled at him.

"Dude, your ghostly wail is gonna come out if you keep acting like that," Tucker said.

Danny took a deep breath and his eyes slowly returned to their icy blue color. "You're right." He turned back to the pancakes and flipped them. They were nearly black.

Jazz then walked in. "Are you guys okay? We heard yelling and smelled something bur - oh."

Danny threw out the pancakes and looked over at Jazz. "We are fine."

Jazz left and Sam closed the door behind her. "We were talking about it and we thought that maybe you should tell Jazz."

"What?! No! I'm not - " Danny realized he was shouting and then whispered. " _I'm not telling anyone_."

Sam crossed her arms.

"She is the only one you could trust with this kind of secret," Tucker explained.

"She also would never trust me again. I've been lying to her for _years_."

"We are just saying that she might to be the only person actually willing to listen to Danny Phantom's side of the story. She was the most shocked out of everyone that you killed all those people."

"Can we _not_ talk about that? Ever?" Danny turned the stove off, frustrated and not in the mood of making food anymore. "Besides, she seems just about as gung-ho about tearing me apart molecule by molecule as my dad does right now. The whole reason she started hunting ghosts was because The Master made the world think I'm a villain. _God_ , this is just like Dan all over again."

"Well, not _really_ because Dan actually _was_ legit evil and he _was_ you."

"Alternate future me," Danny snapped. "And yeah, but you know what I mean. Everyone thinking I'm a villain. Wanting me dead. And having good reason."

"You can still change that," Sam insisted.

"How?" They locked eyes.

Sam looked down to break the stare. "I'm not sure, but I think Jazz can help."

"How could she help?"

"I don't know…Danny, come on. Won't you just consider -" Suddenly, the news channel's breaking news music came on.

"MORE BREAKING NEWS. Amity Park has been put under immediate lockdown. A ghost shield has been put around the city to -"

"GHOSTS?!" Any mention of ghosts and Jack's ears perked up. He bustled into the kitchen and turned the volume deafeningly loud. Jazz and Maddie followed behind.

"A full-fledged ghost attack," a screen popped up besides the newscaster showing a large assembly of ghosts terrorizing innocent citizens, "has just begun in the park and we are calling on all ghost-hunters to help battle these ferocious beings. It is unclear why these ghosts have started to attack but we have reason to believe Danny Phantom is behind it since he was seen just last night…"

Danny, Sam, and Tucker exchanged worried glances with each other.

"Oh no! Those poor people!" Maddie picked the RV keys off the counter. "Let's go."

Jazz nodded and squeezed her hands into fists. "No way is he getting away with this again."

"Hey! We don't know Phantom is behind this," Sam pointed out.

"Well, I definitely wouldn't put it past him," Jack said bitterly.

The three of them rushed to the RV, and Danny and his friends followed behind them.

"Wait! We can help you!" Danny shouted after them. Sam and Tucker looked at him, astonished.

"Danny, we love you sweetie, but you don't have much experience when it comes to ghost hunting," Maddie said as Jack started the car and she hopped into the passenger seat. Jazz got into the back.

He stepped into the RV and helped his friends in. "Don't worry, we're fast learners."

Everyone seemed surprised but pleased. Jack put the car into drive and sped down the road to the park.


	5. Chapter 5

As they raced to the park, Sam and Danny whispered to one another.

"You know this is incredibly dangerous, right?"

"Yeah, but they need our help… You saw the army of ghosts. There are _a ton_ of them."

"This is just like when Vlad unleashed Pariah Dark… Are you going to go ghost for this?"

"I'm stronger as Danny Phantom, but I think people will mistake me for a villain even if I look like I'm fighting on their side. For now, I think it is probably wiser to be human."

Jazz came up to them and handed Sam and Tucker guns. "You guys seemed to have picked up some hunting skills fighting alongside Phantom a while back. You on the other hand," she gestured to Danny, "I'll have to walk through some things."

She showed him how to hold the gun and how to pull the trigger and shoot. "You think you can do that?" She asked as if she was a kindergarten teacher trying to teach a student how to glue things together.

Danny pulled the gun from her hands. "Yes," he said curtly.

"Oh! Also, these Fenton Thermoses are super important because they catch ghosts," she said, handing them to the trio. "They work by -"

"We know how they work," Danny interrupted. He gasped, cold air escaping from his mouth, and he tightened his grasp on the gun. Jazz noticed, and, under normal circumstances, she wouldn't have thought twice about it, but, after the strange occurrences that had taken place last night and this morning, she was more suspicious of his actions, starting with the fact that he volunteered to help with _ghost-fighting_ , a thing he dreaded to even mention.

The car came to an abrupt halt right next to the entrance of the park. "Okay, move move move!" Maddie shouted for everyone to get out of the RV.

Jazz grasped her ecto-gun and everyone made their way to the park.

"This way!" Danny shouted, easily out-running everyone and somehow knowing exactly where all the ghosts were. Once coming upon the ghosts, Danny was just about to shoot at them, when he noticed that he recognized a lot of the ghosts…Not only that, but he had befriended many of them. Skulker, a long time enemy but also a close friend in some ways, was in front. "Hey!"

Skulker turned to Danny with fierce neon green eyes. "It was unwise for you to come here in your human form, ghost boy." He then sent a blast directly at Danny who quickly dodged it and sent his own at him. The ghost was unfazed by this ecto-gun so Danny threw the gun on the ground and resorted to shoot with his own powers. Luckily, the others hadn't caught up with him. Otherwise they would've seen. Skulker fell back and growled, sending more shots at Danny who leapt out of the line of fire for the first two, then shielded himself from the third and the fourth.

 _I can't keep this up…people will be here soon._ He looked over his shoulder and, sure enough, his family and friends were coming up from behind him, guns whirring to life. Since he was distracted, Skulker shot at him again, hitting Danny in his left thigh. The pain was nothing compared to the usual, but it still hurt and sent Danny to the ground.

"Danny!" Jazz yelled. She shot at Skulker who simply laughed as the blast could barely penetrate his thick steel armor. Other ghosts like Ember, the Lunch Lady, The Box Ghost, Technus, Johnny 13, even the yetis from the Far Frozen and Wulf, among many others attacked Danny's friends and family as well as other ghost hunters who had joined in on the fight.

"Dammit!" Danny yelled, realizing that this must be a massive puppet show… _The Master is behind this crap-fest._ He stood up and punched through a large crowd of ghosts, most familiar, others indistinct. _A Fenton Thermos can't fit all of these ghosts_ , Danny thought to himself. He somersaulted and found the gun he had dropped earlier, shot at a few specters he knew it would definitely injure, then grasped the thermos from his belt and sucked in a handful of them.

Everyone seemed to be fighting off the ghosts fairly well, save for Jazz who was still toughing it out with Skulker. He was definitely the most skilled ghost she had ever seen, with great strategical thinking. The ecto-gun had proved useless by now and he leapt at her grabbed her throat, pulling her high into the air. Her feet dangled, and she grabbed at his hands trying helplessly to pull them off.

"Let go of her!" A phantom floated in front of Skulker and the girl he was strangling. She turned and her eyes widened in horror as she saw who it was: _Danny Phantom_!

Skulker hesitated for the slightest second then tightened his grasp around Jazz's neck who started gasping for breath. "I _can't_ let go," his eyes narrowed. Danny didn't see another way. He threw a hard punch at Skulker's chest, sending him flying backwards into a tree, and Jazz crumpling to the ground, coughing, tears rolling down her face and hands holding her neck. _Did Phantom just save me?_

The ghoul stood up, clenching his teeth and making a straight path to Danny. "Skulker, you are being controlled. All of you are under some kind of spell just like I was."

"You think we don't know that?" Skulker threw a hand-grenade at Danny's feet. Danny raised his sister up from the grass and away from the small bomb that went off seconds later. "We feel it controlling us but can't make it stop," he shot again at Danny who put his sister down, then put a shield up to block the blast.

"It's a lot easier to hurt you when you are actually deliberately attacking me," Danny noticed, as he continued to fight with Skulker.

Yelling and chaos ensued throughout the park, civilians scrambling to get away and hunters attempting to get rid of the ghosts. Sam and Tucker luckily remembered everything they had learned as if it was like riding a bike, and had captured a good bit of the ghosts, but their thermoses were filling up quick and there were still so many ghosts.

Danny finally froze Skulker, hindering the ghost from moving, and sucked him into the thermos. "Just like old times…Well, sort of," he said to himself.

Jazz stood up and backed away from Phantom with confused and terrified eyes, threatening him with her ecto-gun. "What do you want with us? Haven't you done enough damage here?"

"I - um - I'd really rather you not point that at me."

Jazz didn't lower it. "You - you killed all those people."

" _I_ didn't do that. I was being controlled I swear," he said, stepping closer to her.

"Controlled by whom? I've never seen a ghost who can control other ghosts."

"In the Ghost Zone he is known as _The Master_."

"You expect me to believe you?"

"I don't expect anything from you…I just thought I would try to prove myself to you… Anyway, whether you believe me or not, these ghosts are being controlled. Most of them at least."

"And?"

"They aren't evil. We shouldn't injure them too badly because they don't mean any harm to us."

"Like _you_ weren't evil for killing all those people?"

"Can you please just - _not_ talk about that?"

"Why not?! It happened."

"It wasn't _me_."

Jazz felt so confused. All this time she thought for sure he had killed all those people. But he seemed so sincere when he said he didn't. And he honestly didn't seem like the killing type. She cocked her head to the side, looking at his neck where she had wounded him last night. She stepped closer to him and put her hand on the back of his neck, flinching a bit from his cold skin. She didn't feel any wound, but it honestly didn't prove anything. She raised a brow when she noticed that he looked a bit nervous. Maybe he wasn't used to humans touching him?

"Sorry…" She realized her actions were a little odd and put her hand down to her side awkwardly.

Phantom chuckled. "We should probably go help."

"Um, you might want to make yourself scarce…"

"Good point."

Danny scrambled behind a tree, became human again and rushed back to help fight the ghouls. Jazz saw that he had just arrived back at a similar time as her which made her question even more about Danny and Phantom's connection. She shook her head and got back into fighting mode. Sam tossed him an ecto-knife from her belt and they fought alongside each other for the first time in a while, moves in sync with each other's as they sliced and diced the ghosts and caught them in their thermoses. "Crap!" Sam hook her thermos back to her belt. "It's full."

Danny trapped three more, "Mine too."

Everyone was getting to that point and soon all the thermoses were filled. Unfortunately, many ghosts were still occupying the park.

"What are we going to do?" Jazz asked to no one in particular.

"The only thing we can do is empty these thermoses back into the Ghost Zone, while a handful stay here and fend off the remaining forces…Then we can bring those thermoses back to capture the rest of them."

Ear perked up at this and everyone looked for its source. They were surprised to see it was Daniel Fenton speaking. _When did he become an expert with hunting ghosts?_ Jazz was particularly stunned and becoming more and more confused by the minute.

"I'll stay here to fight," Jazz said.

"Me too," Maddie said.

"I'll go with Danny and Sam to empty these thermoses," Jack said.

"I think I should stay here to help fight actually," Danny insisted. Everyone agreed.

"I'll go with you Mr. Fenton," Tucker said.

The rest of the hunters stayed while Sam, Tucker, and Jack took off in the RV to empty the thermoses. They started back the fighting again. Sam had given Danny her gun when she left and he still had the knife she had handed him. He fought like a pro, which confused and frustrated Jazz at the same time. It had taken her a while to get to where she was now. Danny caught on fast… Or maybe he has prior experience. Jazz didn't have much time to think about it, but there was definitely something off about Phantom. And clearly there was something wrong with her brother too. She just couldn't figure out how the two boys connected. Or maybe she just didn't want to face the idea. A ghost girl was in the mix, battling a ghost hunter to Danny's left. He turned and seemed to do a double take. To Jazz's surprise, the girl looked a lot like a younger, girl version of Phantom. _Does Danny notice this too?_ The ghost hunter slit the ghost's right cheek, and she started bleeding red and green. _Wait,_ red _?_ Danny looked strangely angered by this.

"Hey, let's switch," Danny told the ghost hunter. He seemed taken aback but complied. Jazz tried to listen to what he was saying to this ghost as he blocked her attempts to hurt him because he was clearly saying something, but it sounded like he was speaking another language…

"Dani," Danny said in Esperanto, "Are you okay?"

"What do you think? We are all trying to fight back, but we can't. I'm scared…" She shot a blast at him, but he dodged it.

"I know you are, and I'm sorry," Danny frowned.

"How do you make it stop?"

Danny sighed heavily. "It wears off eventually. But it won't soon enough," Danny explained rigt before his ghost sense went off again. He looked away from Dani and towards a new large group of ghosts heading their way. "Oh no."

Dani blasted Danny in the stomach, and he fell to the ground. " _Sorry_ …"

"That's okay," Danny got up and wiped dirt off of his clothes. "I don't want anyone hurting you and, as long as you are fighting us, you are a danger to yourself so I'm going to freeze you."

Dani nodded reluctantly. He picked her up and threw her to a place where they wouldn't be seen, knowing she would be fine thanks to her regenerative properties and rushed after her. His eyes glowed blue as he froze her. He ran back to fight more of the ghosts then shouted. "There are more ghosts headed our way!"

"Even when we do get those thermoses back, we aren't gonna be able to get all these ghosts in them!" One hunter named Dean shouted.

His brother Sam nodded. "Yeah, there are too many of them!"

Danny shrugged. "Well, we're just gonna have to try."

They continued fighting the ghosts, but, the more that came, the more difficult it became to hold them back.

"How…much…longer?" Danny asked, throwing a blow between words.

The way he said it reminded her of when Phantom said the same exact thing when they had to make the world intangible for the Phantom Planet to pass harmlessly through. That's when Jazz realized something very strange she had never thought about because she seldom said the whole name… It freaked her out to called Danny Phantom by the name _Danny_ Phantom because that was her brother's name. But when she thought about it more, she realized that Danny Phantom sounded a whole lot like Danny _Fenton_. _But why would that be?_

"Jazz?" He asked, breaking Jazz out of her thoughts.

"Oh! Um, they should be here in a few seconds! Dad texted me and said they were on their way back."

He nodded, punching one ghost in the face, a second blasting it in the stomach with the ecto-gun, another chopping its head off. _Since when can he fight?_ _My brother…he fights as if he has been fighting for years. I mean Vlad was a halfa all along. Vlad Masters was Vlad Plasmius. Could it be that Danny Fenton is Danny Phantom?_ The very thought sent shivers down Jazz's spine. One because it had taken so long for her to figure out, and two because it terrified her…

 **Lol felt like throwing in a little Supernatural reference in there ;) Anyway, thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

Jazz wouldn't be completely convinced until she had solid proof that Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom were one in the same. Honestly, she didn't really want proof. For the first time in her life, she wanted to be ignorant…because, if they were the same person that would mean that her little brother killed those people. Maybe he was controlled, maybe not, but, either way, he was capable of murder. That petrified Jazz.

Finally, Jack and Danny's friends got back, taking Jazz out of her head as Sam tossed her a thermos which she filled with the ghosts she had been subconsciously fighting. Sam's eyes widened when she saw how many more ghosts had joined the ranks. "When did all of these get here?"

"A half hour ago…There's no telling how many more will be sent," Danny told her.

"Sent?" Maddie questioned. "Who is sending them?"

Danny swallowed uncomfortably, then, saved by the bell, a ghost jumped on top of him. It was none other than the Box Ghost. "BEWARE!" He merely pushed the ghost off and caught him in the thermos.

" _Danny_. Do you know?" His mom looked concerned, not knowing how he would know, but having a strange feeling in her gut that he did.

"Well, they wouldn't all group together like this on their own accord…That isn't normal, right? Ghosts usually terrorize individually, not in masses."

Jazz stared at Danny, imagining him as Phantom and, for the first time, really realizing just how similar they looked. _Is he like Vlad? Is my little brother_ evil _?_

Maddie hesitantly nodded. "Yeah, you're right. But we've never taught you things like that." A ghost came up beside Maddie, but she punched it in the face and swiftly used her thermos on it.

"I told you…I catch on fast."

His mother still wasn't buying it, but ghosts started attacking more forcefully, and she let it go just like that. But Jazz definitely didn't. She would have a stern talking to Danny after this battle ended.

Danny remembered about Dani and ran over to where he had left her, only to see that she was gone. "Huh?" He looked over at the fight and saw she was battling Jazz who was about to stab her in the stomach. Danny, out of sight, went ghost and flew at full speed to grab Dani from the fight.

Jazz gasped as she saw Danny - _or Phantom or?_ \- take the ghost girl. _What is it with him and that girl?_ It is impossible that they are related if my theory is correct, yet they look like they could be brother and sister or at least cousins. She even had that same symbol across her chest…

"Sorry, I'm going to put you in this thermos. It is unpleasant but you will be safe."

Dani sighed. "Okay, just do it then before I hurt you."

Danny then went back to the fight in human form again.

They fought with the ghosts for hours, emptying and refilling the thermoses too many times to count, but more and more specters showed up. The sun was even beginning to set.

Tucker and Danny were now side by side in the battle.

"Hey Danny?"

"Yeah Tuck?"

"This fight is clearly not going to let up anytime soon, and everyone is getting really exhausted."

"I know…What should we do?"

"Maybe you could go ghost and do your ghostly wail. Then all of the ghosts will be weakened for at least a few hours."

"That's a good idea. Get everyone to stand down," Danny told him, running behind a tree and transforming.

Tucker, who, as mayor, had developed fantastic public-speaking skills, told everyone to take a break. Everyone was so tired and agreed they needed to eat and rehydrate since their fighting was becoming weaker and lazier in their forms by the second.

"We have food and water back at the RV!" Maddie said.

Everyone followed and Tucker gave Danny the thumbs up.

On the way to the RV, Jazz looked around for her brother. "Where's Danny?" She asked around, but no one knew. She then got to Tucker and Sam. _Surely they know_. "You guys, where is Danny?"

"Oh, he's -" Tucker started. Suddenly, a loud noise broke out and shook the ground. Everyone covered their ears in discomfort.

"What the hell was that?!" Dean yelled when the wail ceased.

Jazz recognized that noise… _The ghostly wail._ Phantom's _ghostly wail_. Danny's nowhere to be seen…Phantom is near… _hmm_ …

"Amity Park's alarm system. They are warning citizens to stay inside their houses at all costs," Jazz explained, quickly. Tucker and Sam's eyes widened.

"Strange…I've never heard the alarm make that noise," Jack said.

"I think it just sounds different because we are in a different area of Amity than usual," Sam said.

Everyone was too beat to disagree with that idea and they continued to get food out of the RV. Danny finally caught up with the rest of them, seeming very exhausted.

"Where have you been?" Jazz asked.

"I was taking a bathroom break," he said simply.

Her eyes narrowed, but she didn't say anything else. Instead, she swiveled around and pulled a bottled water out of an ice chest her dad brought out of the van and chugged. She hadn't realized how thirsty she was until now.

"How long do you think they'll be out?" Sam quietly asked Danny before chomping down on a protein bar.

Danny took a bite of his own bar then replied, "An hour or so."

Danny gasped, and, just as he did, an earsplitting cry ran out through the park. Danny and his friends exchanged worried glances. " _What_ was that?" Tucker raised a brow.

Green fire blasted along the entrance of the park, blocking the hunters from reentering. "Dammit!" Danny yelled. "He has reinforcements." His hand tightened on his bar, causing it to crumble and fall to the ground.

"Reinforcements in _addition_ to the plentiful reinforcements he seems to have?"

"He has his fingertips on virtually any ghost in the Ghost Zone, save for Clockwork and the Observants. He has _millions_ of reinforcements," Danny told his friend.

Wings flapped above them and Danny caught sight of Princess Dorathea, in dragon form, flying over to another part of the city. Hunters dropped everything they were doing and shot up at her unsuccessfully.

"Where's she going?" Sam wondered.

 _What is in that direction?_ Danny thought.

"The dragon is headed for the command center!" Jazz yelled. "It's going to try to disable the ghost shield! I'll head over there to stop it."

Danny's eyes widened. "I'll come with you," he said. He couldn't let his sister go against Dorathea alone. That woman is far too powerful.

Jazz nodded. "Works for me." Jack and Maddie pulled some things out of the van to put out the fire.

Sam and Tucker joined the two siblings, and the four took off in the Fenton RV to the Fenton household where the command center was. They stepped out of the car and Danny saw Dorathea breathing fire onto the command center in an attempt to shatter the window.

"Oh no! We can't get all the way up there!" Jazz looked up. "But Danny Phantom can." She turned her gaze at her brother to see what his response was to that.

"Actually, I think there's a jet pack in the RV!" Danny said, running back in and bringing it out.

"Do you even know how to use that?" Jazz put her hands on her hips.

Danny looked at the thing doubtfully. "I'll figure it out," he said, putting it on his back like a backpack.

"Wait!" Sam took the jet pack off of him immediately, noticing it said BUILT IN SPECTER DEFLECTOR on the side of it. "This is a bad idea."

"We have to do something! Dor - the dragon is going to disable the ghost shield and we will be screwed if that happens!"

"We can shoot at her. It won't be enough to injure her, but it'll be enough to distract her."

"How do you know that the dragon is a- ugh, nevermind. We have a Fenton Thermos, right?" Jazz asked.

None of them had their thermoses. Then Danny remembered: he had one in his room. "I think there's another one in the house!" He ran in.

But all the one's we had were in the RV. _Save for the one that Phantom stole_ … Jazz thought. Sam tossed a gun to Jazz and the three started shooting at the princess who growled, flew down to them, and blew fire at them. They hopped out of the way.

Danny came back out with his Fenton Thermos. She blew fire at him. He jumped out of the way. There were dark green scorch marks on the sidewalk from the blast. She blew again at him and Jazz pushed him out of the way, getting a nasty burn on her right shoulder. She cried in pain. "Jazz!" He turned to Dorathea, eyes glowing green. He struck her with green ectoplasm, sending her to the ground. Jazz saw this, and thought he must have a gun, but she remembered that all he had in his hands was the thermos. She looked at his right hand and saw greenish tinted smoke coming off of it as if the ecto-blast had come from it. That's when she looked at his eyes and saw that they weren't blue but actually bright green just like Phantom. And that's when she knew for sure that her theory must be the truth.

The dragon suddenly shrunk and turned into a woman with green skin and blonde braided hair. Danny activated the thermos, and she shrieked as she was sucked in. Danny capped it and knelt down at Jazz's side, eyes now back to normal. "Are you okay?" His voice was muffled as Jazz's thoughts were all over the place.

She nodded slowly, unable to take her eyes of him now that all her fears and suspicions were confirmed. _How had I never figured this out? Why didn't he trust me? Am I untrustworthy to him? Did he think I wouldn't be able to keep his secret safe? Has he actually really been in the Ghost Zone this past year? Is he okay?_ Really _okay? So this is it? He's a halfa like Uncle Vlad? Is he good? Is he bad? What. The. Hell. My brother is half-ghost._

"You sure?"

"Huh?"

"You sure you're okay? We should get this patched up…"

She felt like she may faint but it wasn't because of the wound. She barely even felt the pain. Danny took her in his strong arms and brought her to the bathroom. Sam and Tucker said they would stay at the car.

He patted some cold water on the burn with a towel and then Jazz felt the stinging. She cringed, yet her gaze was still locked on her brother. He looked at her with concerned eyes. "So you are sure you are okay?"

"Yeah," she answered, grimacing.

"Thanks," he told her.

"For?"

"Pushing me out of the way."

"Oh, um, you're welcome…Danny, we really need to talk," she said as he covered the burn with cling film. She then did something he wasn't expecting for the second time that day. She pulled the bandage off the back of his neck and felt the cold skin. There was no wound anymore. She scratched her head.

"Talk about what?" He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Something has occurred to me…"

Danny looked away from her. "Oh?"

She shrugged. "I don't even know how to say this."

"Just say what you need to say," Danny said.

"No… _you_ say what you need to say. Because I'm pretty sure _you_ should be the one telling _me_ what's going on."

"What?" He turned back to her.

"Don't pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about. Danny, I need answers. I'm not falling for any more of your dumb excuses. Tell me the damn truth, and don't skip on any details," Jazz demanded.

 **Thanks for the feedback! Y'all are awesome!**


	7. Chapter 7

Danny stared at Jazz. _Does she know? Is she mad? Scared? Ashamed? Or maybe this is about something else entirely…_

"The truth?" He gulped.

" _Danny_ , don't you understand? I'm your _sister_. You don't need to be scared. You can tell me anything. Just _trust_ me," Jazz insisted.

"I'm…" Danny trailed off, looked at the ground, and then turned away from Jazz, rubbing the back of his neck like he did whenever he was nervous. He looked back at her after a few moments, and she looked at him with warm, loving eyes. She didn't seem scared or angry…She seemed calm and confident. Two things he definitely _wasn't_ at this point. "I want to tell you. It's just…"

She crossed her arms and gazed at him expectantly.

"I swear to God, if you don't tell me right now, I'm going to use your own Fenton thermos on you."

 _Oh my God…She_ does _know._

"I - um - okay…" Danny could barely get words out and definitely failed to make sense of the ones he _did_ say. "Okay," Danny breathed in deeply. "You want the truth? I guess I will just show it to you." He took another deep breath and closed his eyes as he put his arms out to his sides and squeezed his hands into fists. The room filled with a bright flash of light as white rings formed around Danny's torso and travelled up and down his body, changing his clothes to a black and white hazmat suit and his hair to snowy white. He opened his eyes, and they were now an otherworldly shade of ectoplasmic green.

Though she knew this was coming, Jazz was still astonished as she watched the transformation. Everything was confirmed: her little brother, Danny Fenton, was, in fact, Danny _Phantom_. The fact that she had figured it out on her own before this didn't make seeing the proof any less shocking. " _Whoa_ …you really are him," she muttered, looking her brother up and down with wide eyes as if seeing him for the first time.

Danny watched her every expression. "What are you thinking?"

"You're saying you can't read minds too?" Jazz joked.

He chuckled, but his anxiety remained.

"How did it happen?" She asked, one hand on her chin.

Danny had been holding his breath for a while, scared of what she might be thinking and terrified that her hate of Danny Phantom would over-rule her love of him. He let that breath out to answer. "The lab accident all those years ago… When I, um, fixed the portal, it basically turned me inside out."

Jazz face palmed. "How did I not figure that out myself? And that _is_ around the time that you started becoming so distant… So you're a halfa just like Vlad?"

Danny grimaced at the mention of his long-time foe, but nodded as it was true. "There are only 3 of us in the world."

"Who's the third?"

"That's a long story for another time."

"Did you know Vlad was a ghost when he revealed himself to the world?"

"I've known since we first met him at Mom and Dad's school reunion. Ever since then, he's been a total pain in my ass and an expert at making my life a living hell."

She frowned. "So you've had to go through all of this alone? Being a half-ghost. Fearing our parents wouldn't accept you and constantly being threatened by them? _Are you okay?_ " Her eyebrows furrowed as she placed a caring hand on his shoulder.

He flinched a little, and she put her hand down. " _I've learned to live with it_." He peered at the ground again, not wanting her to see that his eyes were welling up with tears.

She noticed so she changed the subject. "So when you said you've been in the Ghost Zone all this time you weren't actually kidding around."

He nodded. "I was in the Far Frozen with the yetis."

She raised a brow. "I'll pretend like I know where that is. I guess I don't need to ask if Sam and Tucker know."

"They were there when I became Phantom."

She nodded slowly then veered into a whole other topic. "So about the murders -"

"It wasn't me. I _swear_. I was being controlled by this ghost named The Master. He is basically the ultimate puppeteer. He is controlling every one of those ghosts out there. Most of them are good, _really_. I mean, not evil at least. The point is, the only way to stop these ghost raids would be to find the source and take it down."

"I believe you."

He breathed out a sigh of relief and smiled. "That's something I've been needing to hear for a while."

Jazz smiled back at her little brother then hugged him tightly. "I've missed you," she said, tears streaming down her face.

"I've missed you too," Danny cried. The camera zoomed in on Danny's content face to which Danny replied (breaking the fourth wall): " _Oh, come on_. _Can we have some privacy here?_ "

Jazz wanted to know everything about Danny's life, in and out of the Ghost Zone. She wanted to know all that she had missed, make sense of things that hadn't made sense at the time, what ghosts he had fought, all of the powers he had, _everything_. But, presently, they didn't have time for such conversations. Top priority was taking down The Master.

After they were done hugging, Danny gasped and cold air escaped his mouth. " _Dammit_."

Jazz cocked her head.

"Ghost sense," he explained.

"DANNY!"

The siblings exchanged worried glances just before Danny flew out of the house, and Jazz sprinted down the stairs. Jazz arrived outside a minute or two after Danny had gotten there and saw that a mad-scientist-looking ghost was taking over the RV. Danny swept in and slammed Technus into the car with brute force.

"Long time no see Technus," he said.

The ghost replied. "You?!" He raised his hands and the RV started running, ecto-rays and the like came out of the front of the car and pointed at Danny. He yelped as he jumped out of the way and the ecto-rays all went off simultaneously. One sliced Danny's arm. He shot an ecto-beam at Technus who screamed and fell over. Danny pulled his thermos off of his belt and sucked Technus in.

"That was quick," Jazz stated.

"Over time it becomes more routine than anything."

Sam and Tucker ran over. "Oh, um, _thanks_ Phantom!" Tucker exclaimed.

He transformed back into his human form, and Sam and Tucker gawked at him. "It's okay. She knows."

They both couldn't help but smile. "It's about time," Sam said.

The sound of fighting in the distance reminded them that the battle was still far from over. "The effects of my wail must've worn off. You guys need to get back there. I, on the other hand, need to head to the Ghost Zone and take down The Master."

"Not alone," Jazz said. "What if he makes you kill again?"

"Well, I guess I could wear a Specter Deflector," he suggested.

"Hell no," Sam shook her head. "Then you won't be able to go ghost."

"But I'll be untouchable."

"Not necessarily…I think it is too dangerous."

"What should I do then?"

"I'll go with you," Jazz said, "wearing a Specter Deflector. That way, if he compels you to hurt me, you can't, and I can be there to lead you back on track to defeating him."

Danny nodded. "That sounds like it might work."

Tucker pulled a Specter Deflector out of the RV and handed it to Jazz who snapped it around her waist. "Okay. Let's do this."

 **This chapter is pretty short, I admit, but I wanted to get something out there today! Hope you liked it.** **J** **Y'all have a good evening!**


	8. Chapter 8

Jazz took the controls of the Specter Speeder, ready to take down this bastard who screwed over her brother and made her - and the rest of the world - hate him. She glanced at her brother every few seconds, wondering how she had been such an oblivious idiot. The similarities were uncanny. And with good reason, since they were truly the _same_ _person_. She supposed she never realized it because she didn't think that Danny Phantom was anyone _but_ Danny Phantom. In her mind and countless other minds, he was just a ghost. Some kid that had died in his early teens. There was no alter ego, no disguise. He wasn't some guy behind a mask like Spider-Man or Daredevil. The fact was, no one had ever guessed Danny was a ghost even with all of the clues because no one ever thought that it could even be possible.

That being said, Vlad revealed himself to be a _halfa_ due to a lab experiment gone wrong so it _was_ proven possible. However, the odds were so low, plus everyone had thought for so long that their beloved town hero was a ghost so they never suspected that he could be half-human too. Regardless, Jazz felt very annoyed with herself that she hadn't figured it out sooner.

"So you pass Vlad's place and then take a left here," Danny pointed to a football.

Jazz raised a brow. "That's a -"

"Yeah, don't ask. Uh, you take a right here."

She turned over to Danny and saw that he didn't have a map. "Do you have the Ghost Zone memorized?"

He shrugged. "I mean, once you've lived here for long enough, you get to know your way around pretty well."

"Lived?" They both laughed.

But both stopped laughing as they arrived at a large mansion guarded by about 100 menacing ghosts. All of these were the most evil and frightening ghosts Danny had ever fought.

Jazz felt like her eyes would fall out of her head. She saw the most vicious-looking creatures and even recognized a few of them. "Is that…?" She couldn't finish and she could barely move her shaky hand to point at the large figure with black armor, gray boots, green hair, a green fiery crown hovering over his head, two horns - one of which seemed to have been torn off, and a long cape flowing out behind him.

"Pariah Dark," Danny growled, clenching his hands into fists and transforming on instinct. He couldn't tear his gaze from his foe. It took him long enough to get rid of him the first time… But, suddenly, a boom rattled the Specter Speeder backwards and the glare was broken. Out of the green smoke came Danny's worse enemy. His _ultimate_ enemy. A nightmare he thought he would never have to face again appeared before him with red eyes and light blue skin. " _No_ …This - this isn't possible!" Danny yelled, stumbling backwards. Jazz looked at her brother with surprised and fearful eyes, and back at the ghost. _Who is this ghost? He has the same insignia as Danny. Is he the other halfa?_

"We meet again," Dan grinned and flew closer to the window with arms spread out on either side. "I guess your fate hasn't changed."

"I never became you and I never will!" Danny shouted.

Dan laughed, but stopped and had a grim expression on his face. "Maybe not. But I still have the chance to make you and your -well, _our_ \- family suffer."

"Danny, what is going on?" Jazz asked. "Is he like you?"

"What's this? You brought along Jazz? Word's out, is it?" he formed an ecto-beam and started to shoot it through the window. Glass started cracking, but Danny turned on the controls and shot at Dan who dodged each blast.

As he did this, Danny told Jazz, "He's someone I thought was gone for good. And yes, but he wasn't the other halfa I was talking about."

"But you said -"

"Look, it's hard to explain, but I would really rather talk about this some other time. We need to get out of here and attack."

"With what army?"

Danny closed his eyes and 3 duplicates formed next to him.

"Whoa. Okay, _that's_ new."

"Yeah, I've been practicing," all four Danny's said in unison rubbing the backs of their necks at the same time.

"And _creepy_ ," she added.

Jazz grabbed a large gun and some knives and opened the door of the Specter Speeder. All five got out and started battling the ghosts. Luckily for Jazz, any time a ghost tried to injure her, they were zapped and injured themselves. They were fighting off everyone surprisingly well. That is, until Pariah Dark blasted all of Danny's doubles and they vanished into thin air. Distracted by this, Danny didn't notice Vortex sweeping in behind him and striking him in the back with lightning. He fell forwards, shocked by the sudden pain. He climbed back onto his feet and scowled at the attacker.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Danny muttered as he summoned cold energy in his hands and a glowing blue snowball formed that he promptly tossed at Vortex. He tumbled back but recovered quickly and wailed at Danny, pushing him back several meters. The evil ghost breathed in heavily to produce another wail but this time Danny blocked it with an ecto-shield. For a few seconds, Danny noticed Jazz fighting through the monsters easily. She was untouchable which pretty much made her invincible. Anything ecto - which was pretty much _everything_ in the Ghost Zone - would bounce back or be electrocuted. To Danny's surprise, she didn't even seem to need the protection; she defended and attacked with expert skills. No doubt taught to her by their mom. She had already taken down about 2 dozen ghosts. He realized, however, that he had thought this too soon, as ropes lassoed around both of Jazz's arms and her feet. She fell to the ground and a young, annoying, all-too-familiar laugh resonated. _Youngblood_. Danny put the shield down, and used both hands to blast Vortex out of the way. Youngblood put his sword at Jazz's throat.

Danny's eyes turned red. "HEY! Don't touch my sister!" He then wailed, causing the entire army to run for their after-lives. Everyone fell and most were knocked unconscious. Jazz unknotted the ropes. She noticed Danny's blood-red eyes and nearly gasped. But a soft noise crescendoing grabbed her attention. Someone was…clapping. The doors to the palace glowed green and opened slowly. A laugh began, accompanying the clapping, and a silhouette stepped into view. Jazz and Danny stuck close together but didn't dare touch since Jazz had on the Specter Deflector. Danny stepped in front of Jazz. "It's over Gregory."

White eyes were first revealed, then the specter's red and black muscular body came into the light. A deep, malicious voice hissed. " _The name is The Master. And you will do best to bow down boy_."

Danny urged every bone in his body to stay put but his knees bent against his will and soon he was down on the floor bowing to his master.

 **Sorry it is short! Have a good night/morning!**


	9. Chapter 9

On the battle front, Sam and Tucker came back with empty thermoses and quickly realized that the wail had worn off at least 30 minutes ago…and a lot can happen in a half hour.

Maddie and Jack fought side-by-side and took out most of the least harmful ghosts, including octopus ghosts, skeletons, random birds, and the Box Ghost. After doing that, they took out bigger, more powerful ghosts too, but they were getting worn out. Dean and his brother took down many of the ghosts, and were still going strong until a snake-like specter slithered around them and entrapped them. Other ghost-hunters were injured and the Guys in White even stepped in now, but their own weapons were used against them.

Danny's friends leapt out of the ghost assault vehicle and trapped as many ghosts as they could but saw that there were plenty more coming over the hill most of which were ones they had previously defeated.

"Dammit! Where are all of them coming from?!" Maddie yelled as she panted.

"There may be a portal over that hill… Is there some device that can close portals?" Tucker suggested.

"IN THE RV!" Jack shouted between strikes at Johnny 13's shadow. "IN. THE. GLOVE," he tumbled over to avoid getting hit by ecto-energy. "COMPARTMENT!"

Tucker ran in as the rest of the crowd continued to fight, and pulled out energy bars and a Tupperware filled with fudge. He tossed everything to the side, even finding a bag of coffee filters and the Ghost Gabber. At the bottom of the compartment, a small gadget with the words FENTON PORTAL CLOSER. He chuckled a little to himself. _Some things never change._

He walked out of the RV and saw that Danny's mom was on the ground, a wound on her side bleeding. Tucker sprinted over.

"Mrs. Fenton!" Sam shrieked when she saw. She rushed to her side. Jack decapitated the ghost that had done this to her and the ghost dissipated in a blast of green.

"NO!" He bellowed, falling to Maddie's side.

Sam ran to the RV and came back with a first aid kit. She began to disinfect the wound and cover it up.

"I'm okay," she murmured unconvincingly. "Where are Jazz and Danny?"

Jack looked at Danny's friends questioningly. "They are on their way to attack the source in the Ghost Zone," Sam said.

"Since when is Danny so knowledgeable about ghosts…" Maddie was starting to drift.

"MADDIE! Stay with me! Come on," Jack held her hand.

Beads of sweat fell down Sam's face as she finished covering Maddie's wound. She bit her lip and told Tucker to go as the most important thing now was preventing more ghosts from attacking. She stood back up to deal with the rest of the army by herself.

"Danny! NO!" Jazz cried as Danny bowed down.

The menacing ghost floated over to her and Danny and smirked. "You didn't think it would be that easy did you? You see, a ghost has been helping me track your every move all this time. You only thought he had all the power. But that would be a _fatally_ incorrect assumption as _I_ am the most powerful ghost in all the Ghost Zone. Come out," he spoke, each word reverberating throughout the dimension.

Clockwork staggered out of the palace in old man form with hands chained behind his back, looking - for the first time - _weak_. Danny gulped. If Clockwork was in trouble, then Danny was _definitely_ in trouble.

The Master cackled and white glowing eyes pierced Danny's soul as he stared at him. "It took a bit more than simply compelling, but it worked nonetheless." He then turned his gaze towards Jazz and laughed. "And you brought your sister along as if as a gift to me! And I guess this belt is supposed to protect her from ecto-energy?" He walked around her and studied the device. Once he arrived back in front of her, he commanded Danny with a stern expression on his face. "Remove the belt and kill her." He turned and walked back into his castle, doors closing behind him.

Jazz's eyes widened. She started to scramble away, but Danny grasped her by the hand. He was zapped and he shook his hand. "Danny! You'll get hurt! Stop! Please stop! This _isn't_ you."

He faltered for the slightest second, but continued towards her. He formed ectoplasm in his hand and shook his head. "I can't stop. I don't want to stop." He shot at her but the shot fizzled out as it touched her skin. He grabbed her wrists and, even with the terrible feeling of energy rippling through his body, he continued to hold them tightly, burning not only himself but also her. He dropped her to the ground and appeared physically exhausted, part of him trying to fight back against the trance.

Tears streamed down Jazz's face as she held her burnt wrists. "Think about who you are. Remember how you were raised. I'm your sister, Jazz Fenton, and you are my brother, Danny Fenton. You are the bravest and strongest person I know, and you are good. Break free of the Master's control!"

Danny shook, attempting to keep himself from jumping at Jazz, but he couldn't stop. He grasped his hands around the belt, screaming in pain, and tore it from her waist. He threw it away and formed a sword out of ectoplasmic energy. Jazz screamed and bustled to the Specter Speeder. She somehow managed to get away from her brother quickly enough to activate the vehicle's ghost shield. She turned the floating car around and stomped on the gas pedal to get out of there as quickly as possible. Danny was fast and pretty much kept up with her. But luckily, with the ghost shield, Danny wouldn't be able to get in. Jazz was so shaken up by what had just happened. Danny was really going to kill her… _How did he take off the belt? That shouldn't have been possible. Right?_

Jazz somehow found her way to the Fenton Ghost Portal, heart nearly beating out of her chest. She attached multiple weapons on her body and prepared to defend herself but hurt Danny the least bit possible. The siblings were now in the lab. Danny glared at his sister with intimidating bright green eyes and hands glowing with ectoplasm, ready to strike at any moment. Jazz's hand hovered over the button that would turn off the ghost shield, enabling her to become vulnerable to the outside world. She swallowed hard and frowned. _How can I get Danny to stop attacking? Wait it out?_ A beep sounded and an automated voice spoke: ALERT. Ghost Shield running low on fuel. Will shut down in 5…4…3…2…

" _Uh oh_."

The Ghost Shield dissipated and Danny phased through the window, blasting Jazz back with a ball of ectoplasm. She blocked the shot with a round portable ghost shield she wore on her right arm. She lowered the shield. "Danny! Stop! You don't need to do this!"

"You know I can't stop," he said, firing several icicles at her.

She leapt out of the car and tumble-rolled on the ground when she landed. She aimed a bazooka at her brother as he floated out of the car. "I don't want to hurt you."

"Which is what makes killing you so much easier," he smiled, but Danny was fighting the smile off so it turned into a very strange expression where his mouth changed but his eyes remained the same.

"Danny, do you remember when we were in high school?" She blocked a shot with her shield. "And that therapist came to our school around the time when we had that spirit pep rally where I made a speech?"

"How could I forget?" Danny stopped firing. "Spectra was the worst. She made me doubt myself more than I ever did before…"

"Yeah…and that was the closest I ever got to discovering you were Danny Phantom now that I think about it."

He nodded. "You were a total badass in using the Fenton peeler on her. I gotta say, I was kinda scared you might use it on me," he admitted. He stepped closer to Jazz.

She shook her head. "I knew that you were only trying to help Amity. That's why I became such a big fan of you and worked my best to defend your cause."

"But that all changed when - when you stopped believing in me!" Danny pulled Jazz up by the throat with both hands. She choked and her feet dangled. His eyes raged red.

"Danny - I - I did-n't know what-what t- think," she pulled at his hands with all her might. "But I-know-I kn- _now_ …"

Danny's eyes changed to green again and saddened. He let go of Jazz and she fell to the ground in a coughing fit, holding her throat.

" _DAMMIT_!" Danny held his head with his hands and then blasted with anger, leaving a crater in the wall. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD! GET OUUUUUUUUUT!" He wailed, shaking the entire room and causing everything to fall over and break.

Jazz fumbled to her feet, tripping over herself, but eventually seizing a Specter Deflector from the nearest lab table and slapping it around Danny's waist. He gasped in pain, fell to the ground, and transformed back into his human form.

"Sorry," Jazz apologized, struggling to breathe.

Danny looked up at her with wide eyes. "The voice… It's gone!"

Jazz smiled. "The specter deflector must protect against the Master's compulsion abilities…"

He held his side, wincing at the pain he felt from wearing the belt. "Do you think you could take this thing off of me now?"

She eyed it cautiously, then turned around at all the damage in the lab. "I don't know if that's such a good idea." She rubbed her neck where Danny had attempted to strangle her as she stared at the ground with troubled, guarded eyes.

Danny pierced his lips and looked at her worriedly. He reached his hand towards her, wanting to help. She backed away. He lowered his hand and looked down, dejectedly.

 **Well, sorry to end here on a sad note! Until next time! ;)**


	10. Chapter 10

Sam must've battled and captured four dozen ghosts all by herself. She would've passed out had it not been for her adrenaline. She felt so alive, yet, every time she stopped fighting to take a breath, she felt extremely exhausted and tired. She took out the snake-like creature that had trapped Dean and his brother Sam so they could help her. The Fenton parents went to the hospital due to Maddie's worsening condition. Tucker came back after successfully closing the portal and began fighting as well but they were out of room in their thermoses.

"Where's Danny?" He asked. Their movements were now mechanical as they fought the ghosts.

She checked her watch worriedly. A ghost dove at her and she sliced at its torso. Ecto-goo flung around them. She frowned. "I'm not sure. He and Jazz have been gone for a while now."

"Do you think they're okay?"

Sam shrugged. "I have no idea. But I guess all we can do is hope."

Maddie opened her eyes slowly. It took her eyes a while to adjust to the lighting of the hospital room but, as soon as they did, she gasped. "They're out there alone!" She tried to sit up, but Jack kept her down.

"You shouldn't be moving around too much right now…"

She put her left hand to her forehead and rubbed it. "Dammit Jack. Was it all just some terrible nightmare?"

He shook his head grimly. "The ghost army is still attacking, but Tucker went to close the portal that was letting the ghosts in last I saw."

She nodded. "And our kids are -?"

"In the Ghost Zone taking out 'the source' of the problem. Whatever _that_ means."

She narrowed her eyes. "How would _Danny_ be able to do something like that? And why is this all happening now when Danny's just arrived?"

"Coincidence I guess?"

"And Phantom just returned too… That son of a bitch."

Jack sighed heavily. "He's the least of our worries right now. Unless _he's_ the one behind these attacks."

"I mean, it would make sense since he's just arrived back!"

" _Wow_ , our Danny boy sure knows the right time to come back home!" Jack joked.

"Where has he been?" She frowned, remembering all that time they had wondered if they would even see him again. They felt so hurt, so scared, so depressed, so _broken_ without him. She didn't want to press him with questions. She knew something was obviously wrong, but she realized that these things take time. _But how much time does he need? He left us for a year! And he just waltzes back in almost as if nothing has even happened? Where was he all this time?_ One question rang in the back of both Maddie and Jack's minds, but didn't dare surface at the forefront of their thoughts: _Why did our son come back at the same exact time as Phantom?_

Maddie shivered. "I hope they're okay."

"Okay, so he has Clockwork. I thought things couldn't get worse but now they are way _way_ worse," Danny paced the kitchen anxiously.

Jazz leaned against the counter. "Who's Clockwork?"

"Master of Time."

"So heeeee's a time traveler," Jazz guessed. Blueberry pop tarts jumped out of the toaster. She handed one to Danny and took one for herself.

"I mean, yes and no…It's more like he sees all the outcomes of the future, can manipulate the future. He's one of the most powerful ghosts in the Ghost Zone. The fact that _he's_ being controlled… Jeez, I don't even know _what_ to think."

Jazz put a hand on her chin. "So first priority should be to take him out of the trance. Because, if The Master can control _him_ , he can control time."

"Yeah. The problem is, how do we do that? I'm half-ghost so this belt only weakens my ghost half. But I'm not sure what this could do to a _complete_ ghost and we _can't_ risk it with Clockwork."

"Is there some other device? Maybe we could call Mom and Dad."

Jazz called Dad's cell and he answered immediately. "JAZZ? DANNY?!" Though the phone was not on speaker, Danny's ears buzzed with sound. _I guess that power wasn't weakened by the belt…_ He grimaced.

"Hey Dad!" Jazz said, then she put it on speaker unaware that Danny could already hear their dad loud and clear.

"Kids, oh thank God…your mom got hurt in battle and we are at the hospital. She's holding up okay, but she will have to stay a while longer."

"Mom's hurt?" Danny cursed under his breath.

"I'll be okay sweetie," Maddie assured them. "Are you in the Ghost Zone?"

"The Ghost Zone doesn't have service," Danny pointed out.

Maddie, of course, knew this…it had just slipped her mind. But how did her non-ghost-hunter son know this? "Oh right…Well, did you go there and what happened?"

He shifted uncomfortable.

Jazz spoke up. "Yes, um, the ghost behind all of this goes by the name _The Master_. He has the ability to control minds. He is controlling those ghosts, making them invade against their will…and he controlled Danny!"

"Danny? It can control humans too?"

"Um - Phantom. Danny _Phantom_ ," Jazz rephrased. "He didn't kill those people. He was being controlled…It was all a big misunderstanding."

The parents exchanged looks of disbelief. "Jazz, we saw the footage…" Jack started.

"He didn't do it. Not on his own accord. And he _wouldn't_. Think about it. Does it really make sense that he saves the world one day then the next he's suddenly a villain?"

"Well, he's a _ghost_. Ghosts are very unpredictable," Maddie countered.

As she turned to Danny to defend himself, he shook his head and mouthed _it's fine_. Jazz crossed her arms. "Well, whether you believe us or not, this ghost is very powerful, and we aren't sure how to go about taking him down. Clockwork, an important ghost with power of time is under his control!"

Maddie scratched her head and then put a thoughtful finger to her mouth. "If we are trying to block a ghost from controlling minds, the Fenton phones might work…"

" _The Fenton phones_! Duh!" Danny practically yelled as he face palmed himself. Jazz raised her brow.

Maddie and Jack looked equally confused though their expressions were not seen by their children. "You know that invention Danny boy?"

"Um…" Danny took a bite of his pop tart. "I gave them to Sam as a present one time."

"Oh!" Maddie exclaimed. "That's so sweet!" _But a bit weird for someone who never uses any of our equipment let alone goes into the lab unless asked to…_

"I saw them in the lab once and, um, thought they would look good on her," Danny half-lied. "That time when that ghost Ember attacked, Sam was the only one who remained totally unaffected."

No one recalled what he was talking about. As far as his parents were concerned, Danny had never really experienced ghosts. But for some reason, he seemed a lot more knowledgeable about ghosts than he had ever previously let on.

"Okay…um, I think we have some in the lab, on my desk. But Jazz, Danny, you need to be careful. This ghost sounds dangerous."

"We will! Thanks Mom and Dad! Bye!" Jazz said hanging up. She looked at Danny squarely. "Danny, you seriously need to tell them the truth."

"And then what? Make them think I'm a murderer?"

"They won't think -"

"They know Vlad is a halfa. If I told them I was like him, it wouldn't be long before they came to the conclusion that I was evil especially considering what I was staged to do…" Danny brushed a stray hair out of his face.

She sighed heavily, but replied. "I understand."

"You do?"

She shrugged. "To some extent. I get what you fear. And I can't blame you."

He smiled sadly, then he opened up his entire mind to his sister. "It's just that I feel like being Danny Fenton keeps me grounded, normal. My other side as Danny Phantom makes me a whole other person in their eyes. Someone who isn't trusted, who has killed people, who - " he closed his eyes, stinging with stress and new tears. "I can't face a world that hates me. That's why I left… Everyone knows me as Danny Fenton, true, I can distinguish between my two entities somewhat. But the largest part of my life was - and still is - being Phantom. It makes me who I am, makes, well, _made_ me have a purpose in this utterly dull world. But once people stop believing in you, - the person you _really_ are - it's hard, no, it's _impossible_ to feel like you're making a difference. I wanted to be here with you, Mom, and Dad. _God_ , I did. But I knew I was going nowhere as my human half, not with my guilt and all of my self-hatred. I was paralyzed. I went to the Ghost Zone to find myself again while also keeping ghosts from entering the human world so I could somewhat protect people without needing to show my face," Danny opened his eyes to see Jazz's eyes were filled with tears. She hugged him.

She pulled away after a while. "Danny, you are never going to be able to live with yourself with this hanging over your head. We will prove to the world that you are good again," she wiped a tear from one of his eyes. "I never knew how tormented you were and I'm so sorry that you've had to go through this," she frowned. "Don't worry. I believe you, and the whole world will to if it's the last thing I do."

 **Hope y'all are enjoying it! Reviews are appreciated and thanks for the support!** **J** **Have a good night!**


	11. Chapter 11

"Hey! The ranks are diminishing! We only have a few dozen more ghosts to capture!" exclaimed a relieved Sam.

"It's about time," Tucker wiped sweat off of his fate, breathing heavily. "I've never been so exhausted. It's good Jazz and Danny are okay." The brother and sister had rushed over to replenish their resources and told them of their plans a half hour ago.

Sam's eyebrows furrowed. "I hope they can do this." She sliced through three ghosts and, as they were weakened, sucked them into her thermos.

"They can," Tucker followed in suit, sucking in three more ghouls, "and they will." Other hunters were also doing well and finally things seemed to be looking up.

Dean sucked in the last two ghosts. "Okay! I think we are done here," he grinned.

Sam, his brother, shushed him, a police scanner in his right hand. He raised the volume.

"Sending all units to Spirit's Way Blvd," the man spoke a series of numbers.

Sam's eyes widened as he looked at his brother. "Another ghost attack…I thought you closed the portal!" He turned to Tucker.

"Oh no…Another must've opened!" The other Sam yelled. She pulled a large gun from her belt and, with intense amethyst eyes, stated, "Looks like the fight's not over yet."

Jazz and Danny put the Fenton phones in. Jazz finally unclasped the Specter Deflector from his waist. He breathed a sigh of relief and already felt his body healing. Eyes glowed (though remained blue) as he felt power and a comforting coldness seep back into him. He closed his eyes.

Jazz couldn't help but stare. When he looked at her with those bright eyes, she turned away quickly, feeling almost intrusive, even though he gave her a friendly smile. Though the initial shock that her brother was half-ghost had passed, the shock hit her again causing her to breathe in sharply. My brother is Danny Phantom, she told herself. She saw the transformation more than once and knew without a doubt that this was the truth, but it still amazed her and freaked her out at the same time. The whole day had felt like a dream…or, more frequently, like a nightmare.

"Hey Jazz?" She was so lost in her thoughts, she hadn't even realized he had changed back into his alter ego. He was in the Specter Speeder with a questioning glint in his eyes. "Waiting for the grass to grow?" He chuckled as he held out his hand to help her in.

His laugh comforted her because, though he didn't appear exactly as the little brother she knew and loved, he at least sounded the same. Yet still, it was disconcerting to think that only an hour ago he had tried to kill her. She nodded and took his hand. He pulled her into the vehicle and they took off into the green abyss.

Ember and Skulker led ghosts down Spirit's Way Blvd, many of which leapt into stores and houses and terrorized the citizens of Amity Park. Each place along the street was under their control now. Outside, it seemed as if an apocalypse had begun, with abandoned cars, lights left on and doors wide open, and no sign of human life.

Sam and the other hunters looked around in disbelief.

"Dang…it feels like we're on the set of The Walking Dead," Tucker commented.

Sam crossed her arms and gave Tucker a pointed look. Before she could say anything to him, an explosion shook the ground and, a few buildings down, they could see dark green smoke rising. Sam started sprinting over, gun raised, but one of the hunters grabbed her arm. "Wait…"

"Let go!" Sam shrieked, trying to pull free. "We need to get over there and take them out before they cause more damage!"

"No…we need to take them by surprise," Tucker looked at the pavement pensively.

Dean nodded. "It'll be easier to take them out if we catch them off guard."

Sam lowered her gun and shrugged. The hunter let her go. "You're right."

Jack thought long and hard about what his kids had said. Phantom was being controlled by another ghost? It would make sense because, as much of a menace he was, he had never tried to kill anyone. And he had just gained the world's trust at the time of those murders. Why would he do something so heinous after becoming a hero to everyone? He wasn't convinced the Phantom was on their side, but he did see a strong possibility that his children were telling the truth. Why would they lie anyway? Besides, Danny had been right: ghosts don't fight in armies, not those ghosts at least…most of those ghosts were recognizable as ones that nearly always fought independently.

Thinking over everything, Jack also realized that there may be a way to make the ultimate Fenton phones. A siren or something that could drown out the Master's voice and make the army of ghosts stop. They could possibly put an end to all the futile fighting once and for all.

He began writing blueprints of such a mechanism on the napkin that came with the hospital meal and conveyed his ideas to Maddie who suggested a few things to him.

"Jack, you need to go back to the house to create this. You are the only one who can do it."

He held her hand in his. "But I can't leave you here Mads -"

"Yes, you can. I'm safe here. Go," she assured him.

He nodded then stood up. He quickly got back to Fenton Works and immediately started developing the speakers and called up some tech-friends to help him.

They were a few minutes into the Ghost Zone when Jazz realized the silence hanging over the two siblings. She looked at Danny, white hair and all, eyes glowing and lighting up the controls as he drove.

"Dan -" "Ja-" They simultaneously spoke.

"Uh, you first," Danny chuckled, looking over at her.

"No, you."

He hesitated before speaking. "I know this is a lot to take in…And I'm sorry I didn't just tell you the truth before it was too late…"

"Well…I would like to tell you that I understand what you are going through, but that would be a lie," Jazz admitted. "But what I do know is that we can't dwell on the past. What happened, happened. I would like to hear more about it though, if you are willing to share."

Danny chuckled. "I don't even know where to start."

"Why not start from the beginning?"

He looked down at his feet and sighed heavily. "Sam, Tuck, and I were down in the lab, checking out all the fun nick-knacks. Naturally, we were most attracted to the ghost portal. There were so many unknowns. What if it actually worked? What if there really was some unexplored paranormal world? We were so curious. It was Sam's idea to look inside. I thought, you know, why not? So I put on a hazmat suit and walked in. I kept one hand on the wall to keep from falling but slipped and pressed something. That's when the electricity hit me and everything went black," he closed his eyes and breathed out, then looked at Jazz. "That's the second most scared I've ever been in my life to this day."

"What's the first?"

Danny peered out of the Specter Speeder, recalling the day he met Clockwork and faced his horrific fate. A fate worse than death. "That ghost from earlier. The one that looked similar to me but older…He's an evil version of me in the future."

"Wait, what?" Jazz's eyebrows furrowed.

"It's complicated. A couple years ago, around the CAT exam, Dan came back in time to ensure the safety of his, well, my future. To repeat history, make me become him. He strapped all of my loved ones to the vat of hot sauce at the Nasty Burger and…"

"And what?"

"Everyone nearly died. I wasn't fast enough…I couldn't go ghost in time…If Clockwork hadn't been there and hadn't changed everything, I would have become him."

Jazz gulped. "That sounds awful."

"I've never actually told anyone that," Danny said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Not even Tucker? Or Sam?"

He shook his head. "It terrified me. The thought of living the rest of my life knowing I could've stopped my friends and family from dying. Sam and Tucker knew that they died in the future, I just never told them how close they came to it…"

"Well, it's over now," Jazz said, putting a hand on one of his shoulders.

"I guess so. Though, I don't know why or how he is back. And besides that, I've got other nightmares to face right now." Danny swallowed hard and kept a steady gaze on the road as he drove toward the headquarters.

"I hope this works," Jazz gulped.

Danny nodded in agreement.


End file.
